Cretaceous Vertebrates from Madagascar: A Window into the Biogeographic and Plate Tectonic History of Gondwana

来自马达加斯加的白垩纪脊椎动物：了解贡德瓦生物地理和板块构造史的窗口国家科学基金会提案EAR-1123642PI David W.KrauseCo-Pis Patrick M.O？Connor，Raymond R.Rogers，Joseph J.W.Sertich，and Alan H.Turner？中生代后半期见证了构成冈瓦那超大陆南部大陆的陆块形态的深刻变化，对相关的陆生和淡水脊椎动物动物群造成了戏剧性的影响。马达加斯加位于冈瓦那的中心附近，因为它分裂成几个组成部分。该提案寻求继续一个项目，该项目主要是为了发现白垩纪时期的脊椎动物化石。到目前为止，我们已经将岛上已知的晚白垩世脊椎动物的物种多样性增加了五倍，并发现了南半球乃至世界上一些最完整、保存最完好的晚白垩世脊椎动物标本。许多新的分类群已被命名、描述和分析。但在马达加斯加广袤的古生物学和地质学上尚未勘探的白垩纪岩石中，仍有许多工作要做。随着工作的继续，我们相信马达加斯加？S脊椎动物群将成为南半球白垩纪最著名的动物群之一，并成为比较其他白垩纪冈德瓦群岛动物群的主要标准之一。我们建议继续在马达加斯加西北部Mahajanga盆地的两个主要野外区域收集白垩纪末期的陆地和淡水脊椎动物化石。我们还提议将我们的努力扩大到马达加斯加西部的Morondava盆地，2010年的一次侦察探险在那里发现了一只巨大的蜥脚类恐龙，并有可能从比Mahajanga盆地产生化石更古老的地层中发现更多的标本。这些早期地层层的发现将提供更深层次的时间背景，用来解决有争议的生物地理和板块构造假说。像过去一样，我们的工作将努力让那些正在研究科学专业生涯的精力充沛和有前途的年轻人(高中生和本科生)，学习成为专业的古生物学家和地质学家(研究生)，以及刚刚开始他们的职业生涯(博士后助理和初级教授/策展人)。除了在广泛发行的科学期刊上发表文章外，我们还将继续通过在流行杂志上发表文章、在公共博物馆展出文章、鼓励在平面媒体、广播和电视上报道、开发网站以及通过面向学术和非学术受众的演讲活动，使我们的研究更广泛地为公众所知。最后，我们设立马达加斯加Ankizy基金(www.ankizy.org；？ankizy？手段？孩子？它的使命是建造学校(迄今已有4所)，并向该岛偏远地区提供医疗保健(如临时诊所、清洁水井、蚊帐)，这一项目非常成功；我们将继续努力开展这项工作。

Cretaceous Vertebrates from Madagascar: A Window into the Biogeographic and Plate Tectonic History of GondwanaNational Science Foundation Proposal EAR-1123642PI David W. KrauseCo-PIs Patrick M. O?Connor, Raymond R. Rogers, Joseph J. W. Sertich, and Alan H. TurnerAbstract?The latter half of the Mesozoic Era witnessed profound changes in the configuration of landmasses that comprised the southern supercontinent of Gondwana, with dramatic consequences for the associated terrestrial and freshwater faunas of backboned (vertebrate) animals. Madagascar lay near the center of Gondwana as it fragmented into its component parts. This proposal seeks to continue a project primarily designed to discover vertebrate fossils from the Cretaceous Period. To date, we have quintupled the previously known species diversity of Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the island and have discovered some of the most complete and spectacularly preserved specimens of Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the southern hemisphere and, indeed, the world. Many new taxa have been named, described, and analyzed. But much remains to be done in the vast expanses of paleontologically and geologically unexplored Cretaceous rocks of Madagascar. With continued work, we are confident that Madagascar?s vertebrate fauna will become one of the best known faunas of Cretaceous age from the southern hemisphere and one of the primary standards against which other Gondwanan faunas of Cretaceous age are compared. We propose to continue collecting terrestrial and freshwater vertebrate fossils of latest Cretaceous age from two major field areas in the Mahajanga Basin of northwestern Madagascar. We also propose to expand our efforts into the Morondava Basin in western Madagascar, where a reconnaissance expedition in 2010 yielded a spectacular find of a massive sauropod dinosaur and the potential for many more specimens from strata older than those yielding fossils in the Mahajanga Basin. Discoveries from these earlier horizons will provide a deeper temporal context with which to address controversial biogeographic and plate tectonic hypotheses. As in the past, our work will strive to involve energetic and promising young people who are investigating a professional career in the sciences (high school and undergraduate students), studying to become professional paleontologists and geologists (graduate students), and just beginning their professional careers (postdoctoral associates and entry-level professors/curators). In addition to publishing in widely-distributed scientific journals, we will continue to make our research more broadly known to the public by publishing articles in popular magazines, contributing to displays in public museums, encouraging coverage in print media, radio, and television, developing websites, and through speaking engagements to both academic and lay audiences. Lastly, our establishment of the Madagascar Ankizy Fund (www.ankizy.org; ?ankizy? means ?children? in the Malagasy language), whose mission it is to build schools (four so far) and provide healthcare (e.g., temporary clinics, clean-water wells, mosquito nets) to remote areas of the island, has been very successful; our efforts in this venture will continue.